


9 Scenes behind 999

by GaleWrites



Category: Zero Escape (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Tabletop Gaming, Canon Temporary Character Death, Gen, Lesbian DM
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-16 09:07:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28828659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GaleWrites/pseuds/GaleWrites
Summary: What if 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors was a tabletop campaign?
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10
Collections: Bulletproof 20/21





	9 Scenes behind 999

**Author's Note:**

  * For [27twinsister](https://archiveofourown.org/users/27twinsister/gifts).



> This fic is based on 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors (also commonly known as 999). It's a wonderful game, I highly recommend playing it. Spoilers for some midgame events/reveals, but I was very careful not to spoil any of the really really important bits (or the ending). Feel free to read this without worrying about the game getting spoiled

Lotus- Played by Anna

“Okay, so, do you have any idea what sort of character you want to play?” Alex asked Anna once they’d closed the door to keep their conversation private.

“So this is in the near future, you said?” Anna asked, tapping her pencil against her nose thoughtfully

“Yep. Specifically, 2027. Expect slightly better than current technology, but the world itself is mostly the same.”

“Okay, I want to play a programmer.” Anna smiled. “Maybe one with some kind of athletic hobby, for balance?”

“So, maybe a college student playing intramural sports?” Alex suggested.

“Mmm…” Anna shook her head slowly. “A belly dancer. Also, an older woman. Team mom in a tiny dancer’s outfit.”

Alex laughed. “You so have a type. Do you want her to be an actual mom, too? Her kids wouldn’t be in the story, but it could make for good backstory material.”

“Oooh, yeah! She has twins. Twin girls. They’re in high school now.” Anna grinned.

“What about college for them? That’d line up nicely with my timeline.” Alex grinned back, a hint of mischief in her expression.

“What do you mean?”

“If they were, say, somewhere between twenty and twenty five, they could have gone mysteriously missing for nine days a decade ago.” Alex looked thoroughly pleased with herself.

“Her children went missing? I love it. What happened to them?”

“She never found out. They just came back after nine days and wouldn’t talk about it.”

Anna lit up. “Oh, I love that. It drove her nuts but she didn’t want to badger them about it.”

“Okay, so what would this belly dancer programmer have done when her twin middle schoolers went missing?”

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alex looked around at her players with a smile. “Alright, today’s going to be something a little different. I have an idea for a campaign, but it’s… a bit more intense than we’ve played before, so I wanted to discuss comfort levels as well as giving you the initial information for the game.”

Caitlin grinned. “Intense, huh? Sounds like fun.”

“Not all of us are into hardcore horror stuff like you.” Arthur replied a bit nervously.

“It’s all just tabletop.” Gary pointed out. “No scary visuals or anything like that.”

“Words can be plenty scary on their own.” Hana pointed out, seeming delighted at the idea. She kissed Alex’s cheek. “So, what’s the pitch?”

“Okay. Nine of you- you five and four NPCs- have all been kidnapped and woke up on what seems to be an abandoned old cruise liner. You’re greeted by a mysterious voice that informs you that you have until morning to escape, and that you’ll have to pass through a series of potentially dangerous puzzles to do so.”

“Like Saw?” Anna asked uncertainly.

“Less… harmful than that. The puzzles, if done correctly, will not harm any of you at all. No having to wade through needles or cut off body parts or anything like that. Just… really, really high stakes escape rooms, basically.”

“What happens if we mess up?” Arthur piped up.

“Well, nothing, initially. If you don’t make it through all the puzzles in the time allotted, you drown. The ship is sinking.”

Anna nodded. “That doesn’t seem so bad.”

“Yeah, that’s doable.” Arthur agreed.

“Excellent.” Alex grinned. “So, as always, you can always ask me to skip or redo something you’re uncomfortable with, but for right now I should also warn you that there’s extensive harm done to children in the backstory, as well as inter party murder, general medical scariness, and potential for violence and gore. Most people in your party are not going to be quite what they seem to be, including you, the player characters.”

Hana grinned back. “And it’s not even my birthday. This sounds amazing.”

“Uh… none of it is sexual violence, right?” Anna asked.

“Nope. Not a bit. More… weird medical experimentation.”

“I think I’m good, then.” Anna smiled at Alex.

“Okay, you said inter party murder. Should we have backup characters ready to go?” Gary asked. The others rolled their eyes good naturedly. He loved making characters almost more than he loved playing.

“Uh, you can if you want? I don’t intend for death to be permanent, exactly. So if you want to hand me an NPC to use, in case your character is dead or otherwise unable to participate, you can.”

“So if we kill other players, we don’t have to worry too much because they’ll come back?” Caitlin asked eagerly.

“Well… more or less. It’s still going to be tense, and I doubt the others in your party will take kindly to murder, but if you’re willing to take the in character consequences, out of character it probably won’t be too much of an issue long term.” Alex replied carefully

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Seven- Played by Caitlin

“So this is a murder mystery thing, right?” Caitlin asked, bouncing in her too-large seat.

Alex nodded. “Among other things, yes. Murder, mystery, puzzles, weird science....”

“Okay, I’m going to make a cop.” Caitlin cut her off matter of factly.

Alex frowned. “I like where you’re going with it, but I don’t think a cop really… works.”

“Why not? There’s always got to be a cop in a murder mystery.”

“I… without giving too much away, a cop in this situation would have insider knowledge I can’t allow. And… the other people knowing you were a cop would change the tone a bit.”

“What if he has amnesia?”

Alex stared at her for a moment. “Yeah, sure. That could work. No insider knowledge, and no knowledge of being a cop until I tell you he can remember.”

“Oooh, a secret. I’m into it.” Caitlin grinned at Alex

“So, tell me about your cop, then.” Alex grinned back

Caitlin considered. “Well, he’s huge. And sweet. A teddy bear sort of dude. And just… incredibly chill about the universe. But he takes his work seriously, wants to help everyone.”

“Possibly the kind of guy who would think it was no big deal to chase after sixteen kidnapped children all alone because it was too important not to?” Alex suggested innocently.

Caitlin looked at her for a long moment. “That’s very specific. But I’m into it. I’m guessing that’s another secret?”

“Oh, for sure. Don’t say a word til I tell you to.”

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You wake up in a small room, on a thin, uncomfortable mattress. The ceiling is only a few inches from your face, and the lights are on, a glaring yellow light that seems designed to exacerbate the throbbing in your head. The thin mattress seems to be the top of a triple bunk bed made out of what appears to be pipe, in a tiny room. You try to shift to get a better look, but knock your head on the ceiling and manage to tumble out of the bunk.

I… try to get my bearings?

The room is small and seems to be sealed, with only one door that appears to be locked and one small circular window, but it’s a little hard to see because your vision is blurry.

Did I hit my head on the way down?

After taking a moment to consider, you realize the ground is shaking, and your vision is fine. Once you’ve figured this out, you can see the room a little better. Two triple bunk beds with ugly blue and white striped blankets, a curtain in the corner, a sink with a shelf above it, the sealed door with a ‘5’ painted on it, an old fashioned furnace with a kettle on top, and a full length mirror.

I want to go check out the door.

It’s locked. There’s a device next to the door. It’s a blue and silver rectangular box, with a design in white on the top and right edges, with a handle on the right hand side and a card swipe slot on the left side.

I try to force the door open?

You pound on the door and tug on the handle with all your strength, but it does nothing. You do, however, notice a strange watch on your wrist as you do this.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Clover (and Light/Snake) played by Gary

“So, I actually had the idea for a pair of siblings who should both go in. You said you had a slot or two open for friendly NPCs, right?” Gary asked, pulling out a thick stack of notes.

“I… did, yes. Siblings could work. How old were you thinking?” Alex replied, eyeing the notes.

“The older brother is in his early to mid twenties, the younger sister is like… twenty or twenty one?”

Alex grinned. “Perfect. Tell me more about them, and I’ll tell you which one you should be.”

“I… expected this would be a harder sell.” Gary laughed.

Alex shrugged. “I was going to try to convince someone to have a sibling in that age category anyway.”

“You were?”

Alex nodded. “Yeah, it’s part of the lore. Ten years ago eighteen children- nine pairs of siblings- went missing for nine days. I wanted one of you to play one of those siblings.”

“Does that mean I get spoilers?” He grinned.

Alex laughed. “Yeah, you do. But tell me about your siblings first.”

“Okay. Clover is the younger one. She’s tiny and angry, and kind of a jack of all trades. She’s also incredibly devoted to her older brother, Light. He’s a genius, a snappy dresser, and blind. But like… Daredevil blind, it doesn’t seem to inconvenience him much.”

“Daredevil blind?” She raised her eyebrows.

“You said there’s psychic stuff in this setting, right?”

Alex considered that for a minute. “Sure. But we’re not doing a magic cure here. We’ll treat it like he’s got a white cane, except without having to physically have the cane. Sound fair?”

“Oh, yeah, that’s probably good, since he’s also only got one arm. He lost one in a car crash that killed their parents.”

Alex stared at him for a minute. “Yeah, I think you’re going to play Clover. Light sounds interesting but… maybe too powerful.”

“That’s fine, he can be my backup. In case Clover dies.” Gary shrugged.

Alex laughed a little. “Sure. Your backup. Why not?”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Clover, Santa, and Seven go through the number 3 door in search of Light. The three step into a blank white tiled room, with shower heads lining one wall and toilet stalls lining the other. Across the room, a tiled wall stretches halfway across the room on the shower side. A puddle of red liquid can be seen pooling on the tiles from beyond that far wall.

“Oh my god.” Clover sobs, forgetting for a moment about the bomb in her bracelet as she dropped to her knees in grief.

“Seven, grab her.” Ace ordered firmly. “I’m sympathetic, but we can’t do anything if we join whoever that is in death.”

Seven winced, but scooped up the crying girl and carried her around the half wall. The three of them could see the source of the blood- a corpse in Snake’s clothing, too mangled by the explosion to be identified any other way. The body was unfortunately right under the DEAD, where they had to scan in to avoid sharing Snake’s fate, and Clover sobbed harder but allowed Seven to tap the pad with her bracelet before doing the same and letting Ace follow suit, pulling the lever. Even Clover breathed a tiny sigh of relief when the beeping stopped, and she squirmed out of Seven’s grasp to go hide in a toilet cubicle to cry.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Junpei- Played by Arthur

“Okay, Arthur. I know you haven’t really played before, do you have any thoughts on what you want your character to be?” Alex asked.

“Uh… honestly, can I be something where I don’t have to keep a bunch of secrets? I know that’s kind of the thing for this game, but can I just be like… a dude? I’m not great at keeping secrets, I don’t want to mess things up.”

Alex nodded. “I thought that might be what you’d want to do. Just the guy who got dragged into all of this for some reason. Maybe a college student for the tropes?”

Arthur laughed. “If this actually were an anime, that’d make me the protagonist.”

“Well, it’s your first game, why not?” Alex smiled.

Arthur rolled his eyes. “I thought the point of this was to tell a story as a group?”

“It is, and part of that is making sure the newbie is at the center of the story because he’s not got the experience to insert himself as easily.”

Arthur considered that for a moment, then shrugged. “You’re the DM, you know best.”

“Damn right.” Alex smirked.

Arthur mockingly bowed in his seat, which got them both laughing.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Clover stands over Junpei, smiling that inhuman smile and holding her hand out. “Junpei?” She asked gently.

Junpei groans her name under his breath and takes her hand, trying not to think of the blood that must have been on it just a few minutes before.

“Yeah?” Clover answered, too sweetly. She swung her ax around, striking Junpei solidly in the chest with a lot more strength than you’d expect from a girl her size.

Junpei screamed, bleeding out quickly on the ornately tiled floor.

“I’m just gonna borrow this, K?” Clover asked, the chirpy tone of her voice wildly mismatched with the cold look in her eyes as she walked away with his bracelet and her bloody axe.

“Well, shit.” Arthur swore, leaning back and looking over at all the other players with dead characters.

“I think this counts as a bad ending.” Caitlin made a face at Gary.

Gary shrugged. “Alex said death isn’t permanent and handed my traumatized character an axe. It felt like the way to go.”

“A total party kill, though?” Arthur asked, frowning.

“Hey, I didn’t kill Lotus.” Gary said, holding his hands up innocently

Anna nudged him in the ribs. “Yeah, but you would have, if someone hadn’t beaten you to it.”

Gary shrugged. “Maybe. But now we can find out how death isn’t permanent!”

“You’re right, you can.” Alex replied, grinning entirely too wide, considering her party was almost all dead. “If you could have done it differently, what would you have changed?”

“Uh…” Arthur, Caitlin, Anna, and Gary all looked at each other, confused. Hana said nothing, but traded knowing glances with Alex.

“Maybe… went through a different door?” Anna offered.

“Maybe not let Snake out of my sight.” Gary mumbled.

The others ignored him. “Which door?”

“The… 6 instead of the 1? Junpei and June could’ve stuck together.” Arthur offered timidly.

“Alright.”

Junpei, Ace, Santa, and June head down the elevator together, heading for the number 6 door on E deck. Once the four of them have scanned in on the RED and then on the DEAD just inside the door, they look around to find themselves in a huge room with mechanical works taking up most of the space. There’s a walkway above you and stairs down to a lower level up close to what must be the engine. As soon as you all take this in, June staggers, panting and red faced.

All five players looked at each other with delighted and shocked grins. 

“Holy shit.”

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Akane- Played by Hana

“Okay, I read the bio you sent me, and I have a few questions.” Hana told Alex, sitting down next to her on the couch.

Alex nodded. “I figured you would. Go for it.”

“So… How is she alive?”

“Uh. Wibbly wobbly time shenanigans?” Alex laughed. “You have to remember that most of the player characters have some serious psychic abilities. Science not as we know it gets real weird, real fast.”

“And Clover and Light..?”

“Yeah, you’d recognize them. Clover never saw you though, and obviously your and your brother’s voices sound different as adults than they did before, so Light won’t know. You can tell them or not, as you feel it’s appropriate. But remember, this whole thing depends on the right person getting the right information at the right time, so opt for caution.”

“And the others don’t even know there was another pair of siblings?”

Alex shook her head. “The news stories all said sixteen kids.”

“Okay… what’s the deal with all the nines?” Hana asked teasingly

“I… just like nine? I dunno, it seemed like a good round number, then I got into the theme.”

“Alright, alright. As long as this isn’t all an elaborate excuse to make us do sudoku or something.”

Alex’s eyes went wide for a minute, then she glanced down at her notes and turned them over. “What? No, of course not. It’s a great story, you’ll see.”

Hana laughed. “Oh my god seriously?”

“There are a lot of puzzles, okay. They can’t all be intricately crafted custom ones based on the environment.”

“Sure, sure. Whatever you say, nerd.” Hana ribbed her good naturedly


End file.
